Chapter Eighteen
Using Merlin's weapon was anticlimactic.
So anticlimactic that there was some doubt whether or not it actually worked. After all, the only thing to happen was a blinding flash of light and a slight shockwave that did nothing to the ship, its shields, or the crew inside. Colonel Emerson opted to keep the ship cloaked while SG-1 and SG-3 geared up to be beamed down to the surface, several of them carrying a Anti-Prior device in case the Priors didn't want to talk. They also had three other SG teams on stand-by, ready to be beamed down if needed.
Daniel eyed Vala as she geared up with the rest of them, rethinking on her coming with them. It could go sideways, and she had Alora back on Earth – she was the one person who needed to come out of this alive, the one person who had to make it home.
Vala caught his stare and shot him a puzzled look. "What?" she asked and looked down at her gear, "Am I doing something wrong?"
Daniel placed his hand on top of hers as she messed with the vest, earning another confused look from her. "Are you sure about coming?" he asked quietly and discreetly moved them away from the others, "Something could go wrong – it always goes wrong, and you have a baby back home."
She glanced away and bit her lip in thought before her eyes found him again. "I have to do this," she replied, "I don't know why, but I need to."
"Alora?" he questioned.
She shook her head right away. "No, she didn't tell or leave something behind," she refuted, "It's a need that I have. I can't explain it, but please just trust me."
As much as he hated the thought of her in danger, Vala Mal Doran was one hell of a fighter, she was on the same level as any SG team, including SG-1. She could find her way out of almost any scrape and he just had to trust that. "I trust you," he told her earnestly.
Vala smile softly at him. "Then let's do this."
As she headed for the group, her shoulder brushed his, and suddenly, he was lost in a…vision of some sorts. A stone chest appeared, inscribed with Ancient writing, and when the lid opened, light poured from inside, and suddenly, Merlin was there, light bathed his face, before it jumped to him being among some ruins with the chest, and then a mountain exploded – all within seconds.
"Daniel!" he heard Vala's voice, but it sounded muddled to him, "Daniel!"
He finally broke out of whatever daze he was in and realized he was on the floor of the Odyssey with his head in Vala's lap and Sam at his side, checking his pulse by the looks of it. He shook his head to clean up the leftover fogginess. "What happened?" he asked and pushed up from Vala and away from Sam.
Sam stayed with him, hovering as if he would collapse without warning.
Vala stood and hovered at his side as well. "I don't know," she said, "I was walking past you and suddenly, you went down. I barely had time to catch you."
"You didn't pass out," Sam interjected, "you appeared to be awake the whole time, just…in a daze, I guess, but it didn't last long."
"Jackson," Mitchell jumped in, "you okay?"
"Yeah," Daniel replied, frowning a bit as he thought of the vision he had, "I think I had some sort of vision, it just caught me off guard."
"A vision?" Vala repeated, "Like the ones Alora used to show us?"
"No, it was different," he told her, "Merlin was there."
"Merlin?" Sam questioned.
Daniel nodded and described the vision he had with as much detail as he could remember. "I think I can make out the writing on the chest," he told them as he finished retelling the vision, "I think it said, armeria verimas."
"The Ark of Truth," Vala translated right away, and everyone looked at her in surprise. She was rather surprised herself.
"That actually might be a close translation," Daniel said, confusion lacing his voice, "but how'd you know that?"
"I, I don't know," she stumbled out, "I honestly don't."
"Then how'd you know it?"
"I don't know!" she repeated, "It just popped out when you said it in Ancient!"
Daniel paused and thought for a moment. "Alora?"
Vala shrugged helplessly. "Probably," she conceded.
"Wait, how?" Sam jumped in, "The Ori knowledge is gone."
Mitchell cleared his throat, catching everyone's attention. Mitchell looked over at SG-3, who was staring at them oddly. "Reynolds, head to the Bridge, we'll meet you there soon."
Reynolds didn't hesitate in the slightest. "Yes, sir," he responded and signaled his men to follow him out.
"Shit," Sam sighed once they were out of the room, "Vala, I'm so sorry, I completely forgot they were here."
"It's fine," Vala assured her, "it's gone anyways, so it shouldn't matter – she's safe."
"Reynolds is good people," Mitchell chimed in, "he nor his men will say anything."
"Back to your original question," Daniel refocused the conversation to matter at hand, "before she was about to lose everything, it's possible Alora may have given Vala everything she knew in relation to any threats towards the Ori. It might only surface when triggered, much like in the caves when we were looking for the Sangraal."
"Okay," Cam said slowly, "so what does this mean? What's the Ark of Truth?"
"It's a device created by an Alteran that's capable of brainwashing people to believe whatever it's programmed to make them believe," Vala replied without realizing it and when she did, her eyes widened and slapped a hand over her mouth.
"Okay, that's creepy," Mitchell noted, pointing at Vala.
"It's not like I'm doing it on purpose!" she protested, "Imagine how I feel!"
"You said Alteran," Daniel pointed out, "not Ancient. Why?"
Vala looked at him incredulously. "I don't know!" she exclaimed, "I don't even know how those words came out of my own mouth, let alone any hidden meaning behind them!"
Sam looked pensive. "They were the Alterans before they came to our galaxy," she stated, "then they became the Ancient. Maybe you said Alterans because the device is here in this galaxy."
"It's a possibility," Daniel agreed.
"So, where do we find this ark?" Mitchell asked.
Everyone looked at Vala expectantly.
"What?" she asked loudly, flinging her arms out, "I don't know!"
They all looked away.
"Worth a shot," Mitchell muttered and the rest nodded in agreement.
"Okay, maybe the answer is hidden in the vision I had," Daniel speculated, "Okay, so the chest, this ark, was at the base of what appeared to be a mountain, then it showed Merlin inside what looked like ruins of a city, possibly where they lived or hid from the Ori, before a mountain explodes."
"So, we're looking for a mountain?" Sam half asked half stated.
"Why else would I see a mountain twice?" Daniel asked rhetorically, "It has to mean something."
"How are we to ascertain which mountain, Daniel Jackson?" Teal'c interjected for the first time, "There are many mountains on the planet below and this is not the only planet belonging to the Ori and their followers."
"The Big Guy's got a point," Mitchell remarked, "How do we know which mountain in your vision is the right one, how do we narrow it down?"
"Ortus Mallum," Vala blurted out and stomped her foot afterwards, "Damnit!"
The others were both sympathetic and amused.
"I know that name," Daniel said, staring at Vala, "but from where?"
"The Book of Origin," she stated like it was obvious, "I actually know this one and it's not Alora's…whatever coming into play. I know this because I so happened to be married to a very devout man," she declared before going quiet at the thought of Tomin. Oh, Tomin.
"And?" Mitchell said, motioning for her to continue.
"It's believed to be the birthplace of all evil. It's said that a mountain erupted and buried the place where evil once sprung forth from," she recited. Never once did she imagine that story of Tomin's would ever come in handy.
"That has to be it!" Daniel exclaimed, "It makes sense and why the Ori would add it into their doctrine – they view the Alterans as evil."
"Does the Book of Origin ever say where it is?" Sam asked both Daniel and Vala.
The pair looked at each other. "I can't remember," Vala admitted, "I'm surprised I remembered Ortus Mallum as well as I did."
"I'm surprised you remembered at all," Daniel quipped.
Vala slugged him in the arm, causing him to yelp in pain and she scowled at him. "Just because it looks like I'm not paying attention doesn't mean I'm not!" she informed him, "I may act bored, say I am bored, but I can assure you that I actually do pay attention at times!"
Before Daniel could retaliate, Mitchell pushed the two apart. "Focus!" he snapped.
The two shot another glare at each other.
"Are you aware of Ortus Mallum's location, Vala Mal Doran?" Teal'c inquired, hoping to trigger more left-over information.
"Celestis," she answered right away and growled in frustration at having no control over whatever this was.
"So, we're already at the planet we need," Sam stated the obvious, "we just need to narrow down the location of it."
"How?" Mitchell asked.
They looked at each other for ideas…everyone except Vala, who had a far away look in her eyes.
"Samantha," she said faintly, "I need to see a map of the whole planet."
Sam didn't question her and quickly led her to the closest auxiliary room and pulled up the planet's specs. She didn't have to teach Vala how to use the systems – she already knew and didn't waste time as she messed with the digital mapping they had done of the planet.
Only a few minutes in front of the screen and Vala had a piece of the planet zoomed in and highlighted a portion of it. "There," she said, sounding a little perplexed, "the ark should be somewhere in this area," she told them, motioning to the area on the monitor.
Cameron leaned over her shoulder to take a look. "That's still a pretty big search area, Princess," he noted, "Anyway to narrow it down with your freaky voodoo?"
Vala turned her head to glare at him. "Would you like my daughter's freaky voodoo in your head, Cameron?"
He jumped back. "Nope!" he declined instantly, "I'm good, you can keep it to yourself."
She rolled her eyes. "This is the best I got," she told them, "if this was from Alora then she's giving me what the Ori knew, and if they knew the exact location of the Ark then it wouldn't exist since they would've destroyed it, which leads me to believe that they've never found it but believe it to be in this area, and the only reason why they would believe that is because the Alterans most likely lived in the ruins from Daniel's vision somewhere around here."
"Vala has a point," Daniel agreed with her, "It has to be somewhere in that area."
"We need to get Colonel Emerson to beam us down there," Vala stated, tapping on the monitor.
Sam leaned in close to take a better look. "I'll have the ship scan the area more thoroughly, looking for energy signatures or any abnormalities to see if I can narrow down the search area and maybe we'll get lucky."
"How long will that take?" Mitchell inquired.
"Not sure," Sam replied, "Might be a while. I wanna be as thorough as possible and not miss anything."
The Colonel nodded. "Okay," he agreed, "You do that, and I'll go fill in Emerson on the change of plans. Teal'c, you and Jackson gather any equipment we may need, and Vala, you stay here with Sam in case your spidey senses come up with something."
"My what?" Vala questioned.
He waved her off. "Lesson for another time," he said as headed for the door, "Carter, let me know once the scans are done."
"You got it!" she called after him but didn't take her eyes off the screen.
Yeah, things never did go according to plan.